


Nothing to Worry About

by Hashtagmavin



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Shy Gavin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-06
Updated: 2013-10-06
Packaged: 2017-12-28 13:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/992673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hashtagmavin/pseuds/Hashtagmavin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When your boyfriend is the popular high school football player, and you’re the quiet shy kid that spends all of his time hiding in the library, you tend to freak out when he wants to introduce you to all of his friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing to Worry About

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Hashtagmavin.tumblr.com on July 20 2013

Gavin’s favorite place in the school was the library.

Even though he knew that it was terribly cliche for him to hang out there to hide away from all the other students, at least it was safe and quiet. And when he got bored he could just simply pick a book off the shelf and read.

He liked how simple and peaceful the library was, and nobody could bother him or make fun of his accent and stuff.

It wasn’t that he was bullied all that often, he just didn’t really have any friends. Being the new kid at school isn’t the easiest thing. And Gavin just happens to be incredibly shy to begin with. Adding those two things together usually didn’t result in any fast friendships.

So he kept to himself.

And the best way to do that was to hide away in the library whenever he had free time during school. He’d only been to this school for a few months. It was perfect because he would be the only one there. Nobody really goes to the library except him.

But one day he started to get company.

He was just minding his own business, rereading an old copy of a Sherlock Holmes book. It was one of his favorites, and he’d already read the majority of the library’s collection that he’d be interested in.

The library was stacked high with dumb teenager books about romance and friendship, and even five or six copies of “Fifty Shades of Grey” which usually annoyed Gavin. Those books were pointless, he’d rather read books about history and science. He knew that he was kind of a geek for liking that kind of stuff, but to him it was so fascinating how much you could learn just from a simple story, even the fictional ones.

"Hey, whatcha reading there?" a voice pulls him out of his book.

Gavin was sitting on the floor with his back rested up against the bookshelf. Sure, it might not be the most comfortable seating, but it helped him get out of the view of the librarian. (Who would usually just sleep at her desk the entire day.)

The voice made him jump and look up quickly from his book to find the source. He’s shocked into silence as he notices that it’s one of the guys from the school’s football team.

He’d recognize that curly red hair and freckled face anywhere. It was Michael Jones.

Gavin didn’t necessarily try to know who belonged to what “cliques” in the school, but it was hard to miss the football team and they’re usually loud screaming down the halls as they celebrated a victory. He also knew because they had a reputation for bullying the nerdy kids, so he had to know who they were so that he could keep out of their way.

Obviously he hasn’t tried hard enough. Michael had somehow found him and who knows how badly he’ll get beat up or picked on now. He’s never talked to the guy before, and has no idea why he’s being targeted now.

"H-Hi, uh…" Gavin stutters, trying desperately to think of an excuse so that he won’t get his face beaten in.

Michael raises an eyebrow, “Dude…you okay?”

That sort of snaps Gavin out of if, “Yeah.” He applauds himself internally for not stuttering, but he knows it won’t last long. Being around a known bully sort of makes him nervous, because he knows what’s coming.

But Gavin’s eyebrows raise in both a mixture of confusion and surprise when he sees Michael smile softly as though he’s amused, and takes a seat across from him, leaning against the opposite bookcase.

It’s quiet for a few moments, and he’s scared to ask him what he’s doing because what if he offends him or something? He doesn’t need anymore reason to be bullied.

Then Michael breaks the silence for him, “So…?”

Gavin’s even more confused and turns his head to look at the football player, “What?”

Michael snickers a little, obviously highly amused at the boys nervous behavior, “I asked you what book you were reading.”

"Oh, uh. A Study in Scarlet." he closes the book and looks at the cover even though he already knew what the name was.

"Cool!" he nods and sounds genuinely interested, "Do you hang out here a lot?"

Gavin’s not sure how to answer that one. Maybe Michael’s planning something. If he says yes, he and his jock friends will know where he is all the time. They’ll know where to come and find him, and he won’t be able to hide away in the library anymore. He really doesn’t want to be the nerd kid who gets swerlies and stuff from the bullies. But he’s also a terrible liar.

"N-No, no." he attempts to sound casual. Not only so that Michael will believe his lie, but maybe he won’t come across as such a dork, and he’ll be left alone. "This is my first time here. Might never come back again."

Michael chuckles, “You’re a horrible liar, you know that right?”

Gavin quietly utters a pathetic, “Sorry.”

"No need to apologize, I know you come here a lot."

"…You do?"

"Yeah, I always see you heading here whenever free period starts. Must be really nice and quiet in here." Michael says as his eyes study the rows of colorful books that are in the shelf above Gavin’s head.

Gavin doesn’t respond to that. He just sits there, waiting for the inevitable. For Michael to leave, and then come back with the rest of his friends. Then instead of libraries and books filling his schedule, it’ll be black eyes and bruises.

He winces just thinking about it, but his facial expression catches Michael’s attention. His eyes stop wandering around the room and he looks back at Gavin.

"Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want me to leave? I totally get it if you do."

"You’re… you’re not going to beat me up?" Gavin asks slowly, worried that saying it out loud might trigger it into happening.

Michael actually lets out a laugh at that, “Of course not! What would make you think that?”

Hearing him talk so casually gives Gavin a little confidence. Just because he’s incredibly shy and nervous right now, doesn’t mean he has to let Michael know about it. Besides, if he’s going to get bullied for the rest of the year, might as well go along with whatever ruse this is.

"Because I see you and you’re friends bullying other kids all the time."

"Nah, not really. The only people we pick on is each other, and that’s just because we treat each other like shit all the time."

"Oh."

Michael lets out another chuckle, and raises a hand to him “I’m Michael,” he says.

Gavin looks him over again and sees how sincere his face is. He doesn’t look like he’s about to punch him in the face, or is planning to ruin the rest of his high school life. He shakes his hand anyway.

He’s not nervous anymore. If anything he’s a little annoyed. Michael thinks that he can come in here and pretend to be a nice guy just so that he can hurt him even more later? That’s really low, even for him.

He nods slowly and lets his eyebrows furrow in suspicion, “I know. You’re on the football team. I’d have to live under a social rock to not know who you are.”

"Hey," Michael raises a hand in mock surrender with a playful grin on his face, "You do spend all your time in the library after all. How much more under the social rock can you get?"

Gavin lets out a short breathy laugh at that because it’s true. “I’m, uh. I’m Gavin.”

He offers a hand out like Michael did earlier, and is surprised when it’s accepted with a gentle but firm shake.

"Nice to meet you, Gavin." he smirks, even though he already knew his name. They’re in a lot of the same classes after all.

It’s only quiet for a few seconds before Gavin feels compelled to ask again, “So, um… You’re  _not_ here to bully me or-“

"No." Michael swears, "I promise. I just wanted to hang out with you. You seem cool."

"Me? Cool?" Gavin scoffs, "Now I  _know_ that you’re just trying to make fun of me.”

"I swear I’m not!" he protests, "You just seem pretty lonely in here all by yourself. Wanted to give you some company is all…"

That makes Gavin raise an eyebrow in suspicion, “Really?”

He hates to admit that being in here by himself all the time  _is_ pretty lonely. Having a friend would be nice, but he can’t imagine Michael wanting to be his friend. The guy is one of the most popular kids in school, and has all the girls cacking their pants when he walks close to them.

"Yeah. I’ll prove it to you, I’ll spend all of our free periods in here with you if you want."

"But why? Don’t you have real friends that aren’t boring and annoying?"

"I like it in here. And I like you. You’re funny, and cute." Michael nods, and smirks when he sees how red Gavin’s cheeks go at that last sentence.

Gavin doesn’t think that he’s cute. He’s got this big dumb nose, crazy hair that sticks up in every direction, and wears these geeky glasses that never seem to want to stay on his face so he’s constantly pushing them up. He’s so shy that he hardly ever talks to anybody, but without even realizing it he’ll say something dumb out loud and everybody will think he’s an idiot.

Gavin does not consider himself to be attractive in the slightest, but he notices that Michael is, though. He’s like one of those hot jock guys from the movies that all the girls want. Michael has this cute curly red hair that he’s always trying to hide with a beanie, and these simple (but cute) brown eyes. Whenever he smiles or laughs he has these adorable dimples. Not to mention the varsity jacket that he wears all the time only succeeds in making him look even more attractive.

But Gavin would never say that out loud to anybody. He doesn’t consider the school or his classmates in general to be very homophobic, but he doesn’t want to be shunned even more than he’s already shunned himself.

He figures Michael isn’t gay though, and is just being charming or nice or something. But whatever it is that he’s doing, it works. Because for the rest of the year he goes to the library with Gavin.

*

A few weeks later it’s not hard to tell that Michael and Gavin are best friends.

It happened almost instantaneously. Even the next day after formally meeting him he and Michael just talked and joked around with each other as though they were friends for years.

Sometimes they’ll just sit there in silence, both reading and only making noise when it’s necessary, but other times they’ll sit there talking and laughing over stupid jokes.

It was like they had this amazing chemistry that made talking to Michael so easy. He wasn’t shy around him anymore and wasn’t scared to make fun of him or annoy him. And in return Michael likes to get mad at him and call him an idiot, but Gavin never takes offense to it. He knows it’s all in good fun and they’re too far deep in their friendship now for Michael to hate him or stop hanging out with him.

Gavin likes his friendship with Michael. But he can’t help but wish there was more between them. Every time the thought crosses his brain he can’t help but scold himself. If he asked Michael out then the boy would probably leave him forever and never talk to him again. Gavin’s not willing to lose his only friend due to a silly little crush.

So he just pushes it to the back of his mind.

Until one day when they’re just sitting in the library like usual. In their normal place sitting across from each other, leaning against the bookshelves like they first did all those months ago.

"Hey, Gavin?" Michael questions.

Said boy peeks up from his book and looks at him curiously, “Yeah?”

"Do you ever think of a friend in a way that might be…more than friends?" he asks slowly, trying not to trip up over his words or allow the blush to form on his face.

"What?" Gavin cocks his head to the side.

Michael sighs and tries to think of an easier way to ask. “Have you ever had a friend that you wanted to be more than friends with?”

Gavin doesn’t really know how to respond. Has Michael realized his crush and now he’s going to get mad at him? He’s not really sure where this conversation is going, but Michael’s expecting an answer. He manages to stutter out, “Uh, yeah. Sure… Why?”

"Because, I sort of have this friend that I sort of…kind of…like." Usually Michael’s good at this sort of stuff, but Gavin’s able to make him nervous like this, and he hates it.

"Oh…" Gavin murmurs. It wouldn’t be him. Michael’s got every girl in the school lusting after him and he wouldn’t waste his time crushing over the loner kid he takes pity on everyday.

He curses himself for even thinking that. He and Michael are friends, Michael’s not taking pity on him.

But he can’t help but think it when he feels his own heart getting crushed by the thought of a girl by Michael’s side. But now’s not the time to be a heartbroken idiot. He’s got to suck it up and be a good friend. “Um, I think you should just go for it. Who in their right mind would turn  _you_  down, right?”

Gavin shoves his nose back into his book so that Michael can’t see the pain in his eyes, and the red that’s bruising his cheeks. He wants to cry, but he knows that even he’s not childish enough to cry over some stupid little crush he’s got.

He tries to block out the sound of Michael letting out a soft chuckle, “Yeah, you’re right. Maybe I should just go for it.”

Gavin doesn’t respond and just tries to focus on the words in the pages. But once he actually begins to understand what he’s reading, he feels his book being pulled down, away from his face and to his lap, by Michael’s hand.

He looks up to see that Michael has crawled up in front of him so that he’s on his knees, half between Gavin’s legs. He’s so incredibly close to him and he can practically feel his soft breath again his cheek. Gavin’s eyes are wide and he’s too in shock to even worry about his book covering his blushes anymore.

Michael’s hands let go of the book and he reaches up to cup Gavin’s face instead, and then leans forward to kiss him softly but surely on the lips.

Gavin lets his eyes flutter closed. He doesn’t care that they’re kissing in the library, that this is Michael Jones his best friend and crush, all he cares about is how amazing the feel of Michael’s lips against his is.

He hasn’t even realized that he’s not kissing back, and he feels like an idiot for not noticing it sooner. But he doesn’t get the opportunity to do so because Michael soon pushes himself away and Gavin’s eyes open almost immediately at the loss of contact.

"Sorry!" Michael says quickly. Once he realized that Gavin wasn’t kissing him back he wanted to slap himself across the face for being such an idiot.

He just attacked his best friend and practically tried to make out with him in the middle of the school library. He’s never felt like such an idiot, and he wants to move away from him completely. But he’s just stuck there, kneeling on the floor with one leg between Gavin’s and the other outside.

But he’s not the only one that’s frozen into silence, because Gavin just sits there too. Hoping that his silence isn’t being mistaken for disinterest. He’s just too shocked that his feelings are actually returned that he can hardly speak.

He stares into Michael’s eyes and sees that he’s just as nervous and scared of rejection as Gavin is. And suddenly he doesn’t feel so afraid anymore.

"Don’t be." Gavin murmurs, and finally brings his hands up to Michael’s hair and crashes their lips together again.

*

It didn’t take long for them to transition from friends to best friends and then to boyfriends.

Gavin had never been happier all year. He was dating Michael Jones! It seemed like something that would only happen in movies and sometimes he’d have to pinch himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming or making this all up.

The only downside was that Michael wanted to show everybody that Gavin was his boyfriend. Just because he wasn’t shy around Michael anymore, didn’t mean that he wasn’t shy at all. Being around the other people in the school sort of made him nervous and he couldn’t stand to walk around with Michael in the hallways because everybody would give them questioning looks.

He wasn’t ashamed to be with Michael. But who knows how much crap he’d get for dating the quiet little school loner. He didn’t want Michael to realize that he wasn’t worth it and dump him for somebody that the student body would approve of.

He ponders this as he sits alone in the library one day, not really paying attention to the book in front of him. Michael never showed up so he assumes he just has football practice or something.

But then he hears the familiar yell of his boyfriend entering the library.

"We won, Gavin!" Michael shouts at the top of his lungs. The librarian gives him an annoyed "Shh!" but he ignores her and continues to look for his boyfriend.

He finally sees him, curled up in the usual spot with some kind of book in his arms, giving him a confused look.

"Won what?" Gavin asks.

"We won the football game!" Michael says, a huge grin spread across his face.

Gavin’s eyes widen and he jumps up with happiness for his boy, “Oh my gosh! Really!? That’s wonderful!” he cheers, and runs over to hug Michael as tight as he can.

But he can’t help but still be confused, “I didn’t know you guys had a football game. Why didn’t you tell me?”

"I figured you knew. Why else would everybody have an extended free period today?"

"I don’t know. I knew something must be going on but I didn’t really care." he shrugs, "If I would have known you were playing a game then I would have come and watched."

"No you wouldn’t have." Michael grins, "I can’t imagine you having fun watching a bunch of hot sweaty dudes playing football all day."

Gavin’s eyes widen playfully at the thought. “I’m going to  _all_ the football games from now on.” he jokes, and then laughs when Michael shoves him playfully.

"Only to watch  _me_  right?” he grins.

"Of course," he snickers at his boyfriend’s possessive side, "I don’t even know any of the other players."

Then Michael’s eyes widen at the thought, “That’s right! I haven’t gotten to introduce you yet! Come on, everybody’s still celebrating!”

He’s still so pumped from winning the game, and the thought of showing off his boyfriend to his friends is so exciting. He can’t wait to see what they think of him. He pulls off his varsity jacket and puts it over Gavin’s shoulders without even thinking about it.

The white, red, and black jacket hangs off of his skinny frame a little and the letters “RTH” which stand for Rooster Teeth High (the name of their school) stand out to Gavin. His eyes widen and those letters make him realize that he’s actually wearing Michael’s varsity jacket.

"Michael!" Gavin says, but he doesn’t even hear it.

"Oh, Gavin, they’ll absolutely love you! I’ve been telling them all about you, and even the cheerleaders are excited to meet you." he gushes.

It’s true, he’s spent the last month telling his friends how awesome his boyfriend was. But he’s never told them that it was Gavin he was dating. He didn’t want them talking to him when he wasn’t around, because he knew that Gavin was shy. Hence why he spent all of his free time hiding away from others in the library.

"Michael, stop!" Gavin cries.

The jacket feels a little big on him, but the weight of what it means is much bigger. If he goes out there wearing this, then everybody’s going to know that he and Michael are dating. And everybody will make fun of him and Michael’s going to hate him. He can’t let that happen.

He doesn’t want to lose Michael after only having him for such a short amount of time. It’s been the best month of his life and if he leaves him now he doesn’t know what he’ll do.

Seeing the terrified and nervous expression on Gavin’s face when he cried out makes Michael stop rambling. “Gavin?” he asks softly, not wanting to upset his boyfriend anymore than he already has, “Are you okay?”

He feels incredibly guilty. He doesn’t even know what he’s done to make Gavin so upset but he already knows that he wants to bury himself into a hole because of it.

"I don’t want to meet your friends." Gavin says quietly while looking down at his feet.

"What? Why not?"

And even though he knows he should lie for the sake of Michael’s happiness, he can’t bring himself to do it. “Because you’re friends will think I’m weird… and lame.” he murmurs, “…and they’ll make fun of you for being with me. And then you’ll leave me all alone.”

He whispers that last part, but somehow Michael manages to hear it. And then he’s not so quiet anymore, “What!?” he yells, and then grabs Gavin by the shoulders. “Look at me, Gav.” he shakes him a tiny but when he refuses, but eventually his green eyes look up into his own. “Do you think I really give two shits what they think about you? If they like you, then awesome. If they don’t, then whatever. Who fucking cares?”

Gavin tries not to look like he’s about to cry. But he just can’t believe it for a second. Michael is on the varsity football team and he’s one of the most popular guys in school. His social life is really important and Gavin’s just going to mess it all up.

"Gavin, listen to me." Michael says slowly. He feels bad for raising his voice a little, but he really needs him to understand. He can tell it’s not getting through, and Gavin’s self esteem is too low to let himself believe it. "You and I are dating because  _I_ like you. And you like me back, right?”

He nods quickly, not wanting Michael to get the wrong idea.

Michael smiles, taking the time to admire how amazing Gavin looks wearing his varsity jacket. His glasses look like they’re able to fall off of his nose so he pushes them up for him gently, and then kisses his forehead.

"That’s all that matters. My friends get no say in who I like. If they don’t like you then that’s their problem. Because I’m not going to break up with you over something so stupid."

Gavin’s reluctant to believe him, but he decides to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Are you sure?”

"I’ll save the break up for when you start thinking the other football players are hot." the joke forces Gavin to let out a chuckle.

Gavin reaches up to swipe the one lone tear out of his eye, and since the jacket is a little too long for his arms, he ends up rubbing his eye with the sleeves in a way that makes him look like a child wearing his parents clothes. Michael can only describe it as adorable.

"Good." he gives another quick peck on his lips this time, "Now let’s go celebrate the school’s win."

*

They walk through the school hallways, hand in hand. Everybody they walk past gives Michael a “Good job on the field today!” or a “Wooo! Go team!” or something else that’s meant to praise him. But the only thing he’s worried about is Gavin, who’s sticking to his side, trying not to look people directly in the eyes.

"It’s okay." Michael whispers to him.

"People are staring." Gavin whispers back, "I don’t think I should be wearing this, Michael."

It surprises him for a moment, because does Gavin not realize how good he looks in it? He’s actually been considering letting him keep it. It also lets everybody know that Gavin is  _his,_  nobody else’s. Which is a huge plus in Michael’s opinion.

Because even though Gavin doesn’t think so, he’s actually really attractive. He’s not even hot in a geeky-way, he’s just hot a in Gavin-way. And Michael’s actually scared that introducing him to his teammates and the cheerleaders will change Gavin’s mind about dating him and he’ll go for one of them instead. That British accent would have any girls panties dropping in the matter of seconds and when he smiles it lights up the entire library in a way that Michael never thought possible.

Michael needs to reassure him and see that smile that he loves so much. He raises the hand, that’s interlocked with Gavin’s, high into the air so that both of their hands are pointing upward. Which gets everybody’s attention.

"Fuck you all!" he yells out, to everyone "I’ve got an adorable boyfriend! If you have any complaints, say it to my face. I’ll answer it with a fist to yours!"

Gavin’s eyes go wide in shock and fear, and he immediately wants to hide his face because he knows that it must be beet red.

"Michael!" Gavin cries out, trying to whisper so nobody else will hear him.

But Michael’s said it with such a huge grin on his face. Everybody in the hallway smiles at how cute the couple is. They don’t think Gavin’s weird or odd, they think that he’s really shy and it’s amusing to see how panicked and nervous he got when Michael yelled out to the entire hall.

"It’s okay." he reassures him, and they’re about to continue walking but they’re stopped by a group of cheerleaders who hop in front of them.

Michael smirks when he sees that they’re all grinning wildly and they’re eyes dance over Gavin like he’s a new toy.

"This is your boyfriend, Michael?" one asks.

"Yup."

"Oh my gosh, he’s so cute." she gushes, and then sticks her hand out in front of Gavin, "My name’s Barbara. If you haven’t noticed I’m a cheerleader." She chuckles a little, and is obviously trying to tone down her peppiness a little because she can tell how shy he is. But it’s cute, and she doesn’t want to scare him off.

"I’m Gavin." he says, and shakes her hand.

All the cheerleaders squeal at how cute he is. Michael can’t help but laugh at their excitement. Even Gavin has to smile shyly.

"He has a British accent." she points out to Michael, as if he didn’t know. "If these are the kind of boys you find in the library, I’m going there  _all_ the time now.”

They all introduce themselves to Gavin, and by the end of it he’s pretty sure he can remember which one is which. He’s seen them around the school before, but he’s never actually heard their names. Maybe he’s a much bigger social outcast than he’s thought.

"You have to start coming to the games, Gavin!" Kara pleads. The rest all gasp with excitement at the idea.

Gavin has to chuckle at them, but he’s still not sure if he’s comfortable sitting with a group of people he doesn’t know if the rafters. They’re quick to ease his mind though with their next suggestion.

"You can totally sit with us on the cheerleaders bench! And then you’d have front row seats to all of our cheers  _and_  the game!” the red haired girl points out. He’s almost one hundred percent sure that her name is Lindsay.

"Yeah! You haven’t even seen Michael in a football Jersey yet, have you?" Barbara asks.

He quietly shakes his head no. They’re all so loud and peppy that he’s scared to talk, but he likes it. He likes just listening to them and learning what they’re like.

"He is _so_ hot.” she grins, and they all giggle mischievously, as though Michael isn’t even there.

Gavin can’t help but burst out into laughter and looks up to see that his boyfriends cheeks have gone red.

"Oh shut up, Barbara!" Michael says to her, but he smiles too. She doesn’t pay any attention to it though.

"Now you’ve got to promise us that you’re going to sit with us during the next game, okay, Gavin?"

He snickers and doesn’t know what he was so afraid of before. These girls are really nice. “Yeah, sure.”

"Perfect! Now we’re going to work extra hard to make a cheer routine that Gavin will  _love_.” Barbara announces. He can only assume that she’s the head cheerleader.

"No taking your tops off during it." Michael says jokingly, letting his possessive streak show once again. They all laugh and Barbara shoves him playfully.

Gavin feels as though he belongs here, standing by Michael’s side as they talk to the cheerleaders and celebrate the team’s big win. It’s fun.

They’ve all accepted him with open arms, and try to explain the cheer routine they did earlier today. Even though he can’t follow it, and doesn’t even know what a ‘herkie’ is, he listens to them with interest.

He has to admit that they’re cute though, and he’s never been so relieved to have a group of teenage girls like him before.

"Michael!" a voice shouts from down the hall.

"We’ve been looking all over for you, man!" another person says.

Gavin looks past the girls to see some of Michael’s teammates coming down the hall, and that nervous and shy feeling comes back. The girls were so quick to accept him and call him their friend, but he’s not so sure about these guys.

The girls all gasp and cheer wildly with their pompoms in the air at the boys who are walking down the hall toward them. The guys all grin at their over excited cheerleaders, and cheer along with them halfheartedly.

Then they turn their attention back to Michael, and Gavin wants to run over and hide among the group of cheerleaders so that they won’t see him. But Michael’s still holding his hand, so he wouldn’t be able to sneak off without causing a scene.

"Hey, guys!" Michael says to them with a huge grin on his face.

Gavin notices that they’re all wearing the same varsity jackets that he’s currently wearing right now. And he feels like Michael should be wearing his instead so that he’s not the odd one out.

But one of the guys takes off their jackets and gives it to the cheerleader named Griffon, and then kisses her cheek. Which reassures Gavin that maybe it’s okay.

"Where’d you go, dude? We won the game and you just took off!"

Michael’s about to respond himself but Barbara quickly jumps beside Gavin and wraps her arms around him, then rests her head on his shoulder.

"He went to the library to celebrate with his adorable boyfriend." she cries happily. The rest of the girls cheer at that fact louder than they did at the team coming down the hall. They can tell that Gavin’s incredibly nervous, and they want to help him as best as they can.

"Oh! So  _this_ is your boyfriend?” the one who gave away his jacket grins. And Gavin can’t help but notice his arms are filled with tattoo’s and he looks so tough that he could probably kill him with one swing.

Gavin expects somebody else to respond, but Barbara nudges him a little and he snaps out of his fear to notice that everybody is staring at him expectantly, waiting for him to answer.

The girls and Michael all try to give him reassuring looks, but they also look nervous that he’s going to throw up at any second. And judging by Gavin’s face right now, that doesn’t seem unlikely.

"Uh…y-yeah." he stammers, "My name’s Gavin."

"Man, you weren’t kidding, the kid  _is_ shy.” he grins, “I’ll introduce you to the team. I’m Geoff, that’s Ray, over there is Ryan, Jack…” as he says their names he points to them and they wave at him.

He commits their names to memory like he did with the cheerleaders, and he feels some of his nerves dissolve. Geoff’s not so terrifying when he’s smiling.

"Guess what, Geoff!" Griffon says to him and he puts an arm around her, "Gavin’s going to start coming to the games and he’s going to sit on the cheerleaders bench with us."

He can only assume that Geoff and Griffon are dating. They’ve both got plenty of tattoo’s and Griffon has this really cool septum piercing. They look like a cute couple.

"Sweet, he needs to see us all in action! It’s totally wicked. We kick ass!" Geoff gloats playfully, and Gavin likes him already.

"Awesome!" Ray approves and then turns to Gavin, "Michael tells us that you guys play Halo together."

Gavin nods, still sort of shy towards them all. He doesn’t want to say something stupid or wrong. “Yeah, sometimes.”

"Even more awesome! You and I are going to exchange gamer-tags later and I’m going to kick your ass in it!" Ray grins.

He didn’t know that Michael had friends that played video games too. Just that fact alone makes him feel like he fits in a little more.

They all start talking and asking Gavin what he knows about football. The answers he gives back makes them all laugh, but he’s laughing too, mainly because he’s just completely making up all of the information. He’s getting along well with them, and he knows now what Michael meant about making fun of each other.

Even though Gavin is incredibly shy, and got along perfectly well with all of Michael’s friends, and he’s not scared around them anymore. He’s talking to them the same way that he and Michael have always talked to each other and he’s never even noticed it. Being annoying and making stupid jokes causes them all to laugh out loud and call him an idiot affectionately.

It really didn’t take long at all for him to become one of them, and Michael’s so proud of his boyfriend for trusting him.

Gavin smiles when he feels Michael’s hand find his again, and he feels so stupid that he was worried earlier.

An announcement comes over the P.A. system for everybody to return to the field for the players to get their awards, and the entire hallway lets out a loud cheer as everybody begins to make their way down the hall.

Gavin grips Michael’s hand tighter at the thought of going into the football field and meeting more people.

But Michael just looks over and into his boyfriend’s nervous eyes, “See! I told you. Nothing to worry about it. They totally love you and  _I_  love you too.”

That sentence causes Gavin to blush even deeper, but the small smile that graces his face is worth more.


End file.
